


Five of Wands

by tinydooms



Series: We Three Together [6]
Category: The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Series
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, not quite missing scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23906674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinydooms/pseuds/tinydooms
Summary: He was glad to be back in the city, away from Hamunaptra; the mummy seemed less real among people, more like a nightmare than an actual fact. And yet Burns had lost his eyes and his tongue, and that thing had had Evelyn cornered. Rick went cold just thinking about it. If he hadn’t come upon her when he did, if he hadn’t shot it, what would it have done to her?
Relationships: Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell
Series: We Three Together [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714483
Comments: 16
Kudos: 75





	Five of Wands

**Five of Wands**

_Fort Brydon, Cairo, October 1922_

It took a little more than three days for the Carnahan Expedition, with the remains of the Americans’ crew in tow, to reach Cairo. It would have taken longer, but Rick kept them riding late into the night and then, after a few hours’ rest, woke his charges at first light and hurried them along. He was desperate to put as much space as possible between the Carnahans and Hamunaptra. That man’s words haunted him, beating a tattoo in his brain: “This creature is the bringer of death..... He will never stop”. 

Rick had seen plenty of frightening things in his life, but a walking, talking, screaming mummy really took the cake.

None of them spoke much; they were all, even the Americans, in a state of shock. Henderson and Daniels were preoccupied with caring for the incapacitated Burns, and Evelyn’s face was set and pale. Jonathan had gone into battle-mode, patrolling their camp each night with flask in one hand and gun in the other, his face grim. That they were all going to leave Egypt as soon as possible was a foregone conclusion in Rick’s mind. 

“We’re staying at Fort Brydon,” Jonathan had said back when they sprang Rick from Cairo Prison, and that was where he took them. It occurred to him to wonder why they would stay there instead of at Shepheards Hotel like every other wealthy white traveller, but the fort was safe and so Rick didn’t ask. Once through the gates, Henderson and Daniels carried Burns off, yelling for a doctor, and Evelyn excused herself and went off to the Carnahans' little rented apartment, leaving Rick and Jonathan to handle the assorted mounts. 

“Right,” Rick said, once the grooms had the camels in hand. “Pack your bags, and tell Evelyn to pack hers. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Right-o,” Jonathan said, and Rick strode off, out of the fort and down into Cairo proper. 

He was glad to be back in the city, away from Hamunaptra; the mummy seemed less real among people, more like a nightmare than an actual fact. And yet Burns had lost his eyes and his tongue, and that _thing_ had had Evelyn cornered. Rick went cold just thinking about it. If he hadn’t come upon her when he did, if he hadn’t shot it, what would it have done to her?

 _This creature is the bringer of death_.

Well, they were just going to have to get the hell out, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

His suitcase, a small second-hand piece of luggage, was under the bed where he had left it. Rick flung it open and scooped the contents of his drawers into it, not bothering to refold anything. He didn’t have much, just a few shirts and some changes of underwear, a couple of cheap paperbacks, and so it only took a few minutes to clear the room of his possessions. None of the furniture or bedding was his; the landlord would wash it (or not) and leave it for the next tenant. Rick left his key on the dresser as he went.

Back at the fort, he met Jonathan coming down the stairs, presumably from his apartment. The other man had washed and changed, and looked less haggard than he had on the trek home. 

“Ready to go?” Rick asked.

“Yes, about that, old chap,” Jonathan said, rubbing a hand through his hair. Rick stopped short. “Evie says we’re staying.”

Rick stared at him, momentarily lost for words. 

“Oh, she does, does she?” he finally managed. 

“Ye-es.” Jonathan bobbed on his feet. “Says we’re not leaving Egypt to the depredations of an undead mummy, and besides, there’s the house to think about.”

“The house? What house?”

“Well, we live here,” Jonathan said. “In Cairo, I mean, not the fort; we’re only staying here because our house is getting a new roof--”

“You don’t live in England?” Damn, there went his plan to take them there. 

“Well, I mean, the family seat is in Kent, but we don’t really _live_ there--”

“You know what, it’s not important.” Rick scrubbed a hand through his hair. “We have to go; it’s not safe. I’ll get Evelyn.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged. “I’ll be in the bar. Good luck,” he added, as Rick took the stairs two at a time. 

The apartment door was unlocked, Rick noticed with annoyance as he went through. 

“Evelyn?”

“There you are!” Evelyn appeared in her doorway, washed and dressed in pale linen, so beautiful he could have fallen at her feet. “I thought you’d left us, but Jonathan said you’d be right back, and something about all of us leaving?”

“Yeah,” Rick said shortly, striding past her into her bedroom. “We’re going; pack your bags.”

“Don’t be absurd!” Evelyn exclaimed. “We’ve only just gotten back! We need to regroup, make a plan to deal with the mummy!”

Her trunk was in the closet. Rick hauled it out and set it on a nearby table. “The desert men are dealing with him. _We_ are leaving Egypt.”

“What!” Evelyn cried. “We can’t just _leave_! We have to find a way to break the curse!”

There were an awful lot of clothes hanging in the closet. Rick grabbed a fistful of hangers in each hand. 

“I thought you said you didn’t believe in that ‘fairy tales and hokum’ stuff. Shoo!” he added to the white cat that had suddenly appeared on the trunk. 

Evelyn scooped up the cat, out of the way of her flying garments. “Having an encounter with a three thousand year old corpse does tend to convert one!”

Rick went to the dresser and pulled a drawer open. Lingerie. She’d probably need that. 

“Forget it!” he said, sweeping up the improbably lacy underthings. “We’re out the door, we’re down the hall, and we’re gone!”

He turned back to find Evelyn flinging her clothes back into the closet. Snarling, Rick dropped her underwear into the trunk and turned to her desk. Books everywhere. Okay. 

“Oh, no we are _not_!” Evelyn snapped from somewhere behind him; out of the corner of his eye he saw silky drawers go flying. (In another situation, he would have been delighted.) 

“Oh yes we _are_!”

Why did she even _need_ this many books? Rick picked up the stack and dropped them into the trunk. Evelyn immediately began to take them out again. 

“No, we are not,” she said again. “We woke him up and we are going to stop him.”

“‘We’? What ‘we’?” Rick asked before he could stop himself. “ _We_ didn’t read that book. I told you not to play around with that thing--didn’t I tell you not to play around with that thing?”

He had warned her, _but_ he had also been curious. Everything about Hamunaptra--the mummy in its locked sarcophagus, the scarab skeletons, the Book of the Dead--had given Rick the creeps, but it had also been interesting to see it through her eyes and hell, he had wanted to see Evelyn smile again. And now Burns was maimed for life and they had an unholy walking corpse on their trail. 

“Me, me, me, me, I, I, I,” snapped Evelyn, throwing books around. “I woke him up and I intend to stop him.”

“Oh, yeah?” Rick said, leaning towards her over the trunk. “How? You heard the man; no mortal weapon can stop this guy.”

That was the crux of it: there was no way to stop the creature, and that’s what scared Rick the most. 

“Well, then we will have to find some _im_ mortal ones! Listen to me! ” She slung the last book out of the trunk and slammed the lid down, right onto his hands. Rick bellowed. Evelyn kept talking. “Once this creature has been reborn it’s curse is going to spread until the whole of the earth is destroyed!”

Rick shook his hands, biting back swear words. “And is that my problem?”

“Well, it is _everyone’s_ problem!” Evelyn snapped. 

She stood there with her arms folded, not listening to reason _at all_ and suddenly, Rick was well and truly furious. This wasn’t a raider out to steal their artifacts or an enemy in a tactical battle. This wasn’t bombs or bullets or mustard gas. This was a monster straight out of a nightmare or a dime novel, and he _couldn’t kill it_. He had shot that thing point blank in the chest and it had just gotten up again and reached for her. And bellowing _‘I’m scared, Evelyn’_ wasn’t an option here. So he played it like an ass instead. 

“Evelyn,” he said coldly, “I appreciate you saving my life and all, but when I signed on I agreed to take you out there and bring you back, and I have done that. End of job, end of story, _contract terminated_!”

Evelyn’s eyes went wide, hurt, and when she spoke her voice was more tremulous than he would have imagined it could be. 

“Is that all I am to you? A contract?”

“Look,” Rick snapped, ignoring the stabbing in his chest, “you can either tag along with me or you can stay here, and try to save the world!”

Evelyn’s eyes went cold, steely. “I’m staying.”

Rick stared. She wasn’t joking. 

“Fine,” he said at last, and turned to the door.

Evelyn folded her arms and stood her ground. “Fine.”

Rick got to the door and swung around to look at her. She stood immovable, glaring at him, and it was all he could do not to pick her up and storm off, to take her to safety whether she wanted to or not. But he knew she would never forgive him if he did. 

“Fine,” Rick said again, and slammed the door behind him. He paused, hoping she would crack and follow him when she saw that he was really leaving. There was a long silence, then he heard the distinct sound of books being thumped angrily down on a tabletop. 

He stormed out of the apartment, leaving his suitcase by the door, striding down the stairs and through the fort. His heart was pounding. Damn the girl, she had no sense of self-preservation at all. ‘Immortal weapons’, indeed. _Damn_ it. Rick swung around a corner, heading for the bar. She wouldn’t leave. She was going to stay, which meant that _he_ was going to stay, which meant...what? ‘ _What does that_ **_mean_ ** _, O’Connell?’_

Rick sighed. Evelyn was a fascinating woman; brave, and smart, and so, so stupid. How did she think she was going to defeat this thing? With books? The cat?! 

_No mortal weapons can kill this creature_ , the desert warrior intoned in his mind’s ear, and Rick snarled under his breath. At least they were here, safe for the time being, away from the City of the Dead. He would go to the bar, find Jonathan, let Evelyn stew upstairs for a bit, then try again. Whatever staying with the Carnahans meant, he wasn’t going anywhere unless he knew that they were safe. That Evelyn was safe. Because he--because he--

‘ _I need a drink’_ , Rick thought, and walked into the bar. 

Author's Note: I think you've got it bad, O'Connell. Lol. The Five of Wands is a conflict card; it means that no one is listening to each other and everyone thinks their way is the right way. Appropriate for this little moment. I hope you like the story! As always, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think in the comments! 


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